The Secret History Of...(Part One)

By their nature, music venues tend to live short lives. No matter the location, running a club is an expensive, complicated, and altogether frustrating business—especially in Chicago. Clubs come and go, acting as just another personality in buildings that have often had several other lives. In the first installment of “The Secret History Of…,” a new occasional series, The A.V. Club examines the past lives of a few local clubs and speculates about their future.

Venue: Empty Bottle
Building constructed: Unknown
Years in current incarnation: 12
First show: Scrawl
Previous lives: The Empty Bottle originally opened in 1992 in a “midget wrestling bar,” according to owner Bruce Finkelman. It moved a block over in 1993 to its current location, formerly The Friendly Inn—“friendly” remains on the black awning. Despite its name, the place had a bad reputation. “It was known in the neighborhood as ‘the bucket of blood,’” Finkelman says. “From what I understand, there used to be gun fights in there and knife fights, and at the end of the night when they were cleaning up, they used to pour out a bucket of blood.” The Double Door also had that nickname at one point; police used the phrase to describe rough-and-tumble bars. At the Empty Bottle, bad omens appeared from the start: When Finkelman first looked at the property, he witnessed eight men armed with bats destroy a parked car with two people inside it. On the original Bottle’s first day of business, a man tried to hold the place up with a sharpened screwdriver—a robbery that Finkelman foiled by whacking the guy with a 2-by-2.
Changing it: The Bottle today is essentially three separate buildings (with five basements) that were joined. A pool table initially sat near the bar and a large, accordion-style door closed off part of the room for banquets. Behind the door was a tiny stage. Next door (in Bite’s current location) was an old sweatshop that made bathing suits. While renovating the Bottle, Finkelman took apart the nice walnut sewing-machine tables and used the wood in the bar. Building his new stage was a huge undertaking; it required a massive steel beam for support. “I remember it was about two o’clock in the morning, and we were getting ready to lift this beam up—and we realized no one was going to lift a two-ton beam,” Finkelman says. So he and some others went to the Bottle’s old location, which was still open, and rounded up about 25 people from the bar to help move it.
Staying power: Pretty solid—as much as that’s possible. “I think the number one potential demise of the Bottle is the overall opinions of the Chicago government on the entertainment and music industry,” says Finkelman, echoing the sentiments of other club owners. “I‘ve always felt like the demise of Lounge Ax or any other club has always come from the City of Chicago and their desire not to have live music venues.”
Possible future home of: Six luxury two-bedroom condo units featuring marble counters, cherry cabinets, a Sub-Zero refrigerator, gorgeous hardwood floors, fabulous master bath with oversized Jacuzzi tub, spacious master bedroom with two walk-in closets, large private patio, secure parking, and skylights for only $675,000 each!

Venue: Metro
Building constructed: 1927
Years in current incarnation: 23
First show: R.E.M.
Previous lives: What’s now known as Metro once housed the Chicago Svithiod Club, a sort of Swedish heritage organization that even had legalized gambling at one point. The Svithiod moved by the ’60s, and the building became known as the Northside Auditorium. In the ’70s, it spawned a club called South American Village. That didn’t last long, and the building then became a multiuse community center with a coffeehouse and artists’ gallery. Victory Gardens Theater (then brand new) used the small theater on the building’s top floor for rehearsals and performances. In 1977, Chuck Renslow, the owner of a prominent gay night club, bought the building and turned it into Center Stage, an “entertainment complex” with a disco in the main room, a cabaret (now Smart Bar), a leather-fetish store called Male Hide (now Hi-Fi Records), and kept the theater on the top floor. Center Stage eventually became Stages Music Hall, a jazz and folk club.
Changing it: In 1982, Metro owner Joe Shanahan opened Smart Bar on Stages’ fourth floor. When that took off, he started booking weekend shows in Stages’ main room. Stages’ owners eventually sold out, and Shanahan moved Smart Bar to its present location in the basement. Bailiwick and Latino Chicago continued to use the fourth floor for rehearsals, but Shanahan planned to use the space as a “members only” bar/mini-club. Today, the area houses the Metro’s offices and the small theater that bands like Guns N’ Roses, Smashing Pumpkins, and Slint have used for rehearsals.
Staying power: About as strong as it can get. The Metro enjoys an international reputation as a Chicago institution.
Possible future home of: Gap Inc. superstore: Old Navy in the basement, Gap in the main room, and Banana Republic on top.

Venue: Schubas
Building constructed: 1900
Years in current incarnation: 16
First show: Big Head Todd & The Monsters
Previous lives: The building originally began as a Schlitz bar with a dining room in what is now the music room. The side door that opens onto Belmont is a remnant from when women weren’t allowed in bars; they could enter the dining room without going through the bar. Between World War I and World War II, the bar briefly served as a meeting place for American Nazis; after the start of World War II, men could register for the armed forces there. But the building has more or less been a bar its whole life—even, at one point, a Mexican cowboy bar that left bullets lodged in the ceiling beams and footrail. Immediately before it became Schubas, the building housed Gaspar’s, another music venue that hosted bands like Squeeze, Big Star, and Big Black before closing in 1983.
Changing it: Mike Schuba and his brother, Chris, sunk $150,000 into refurbishing the building, but they didn’t offer live music right away. “We initially just wanted to get the doors open and create some revenue at first and see how the music thing panned out,” Mike Schuba says. Schubas served breakfast, lunch, and dinner in its back room, with bands playing occasionally. That changed when music proved more lucrative than food. “The biggest thing with the dining room was that it wasn’t visible from the street—you really couldn’t tell it was a restaurant.” Food reappeared in 1996 when The Harmony Grill opened in the adjoining space.
Staying power: Solid. There are no threats besides the maintenance required with a 105-year-old building.
Possible future home of: High-end animal-care boutique with an in-store pet-treat bakery and specialized pet massages.